Facebook likes new town
Facebook is planning to develop a 200-acre plot of land next to its San Francisco headquarters into a town to house 10,000 employees. The company has appointed Frank Gehry to devise plans for a mixed-use scheme on the site, following the purchase of the 55-acre industrial park next to 1 Hacker Way, the final land parcel required for the scheme.
Apple readies data centres
Tech firm Apple is to spend €1.7bn (£1.25bn) on a pair of new data centres in Ireland and Denmark. One will be based near Athenry, County Galway, and the other near Viborg, Denmark. The centres will be powered by renewable energy and will cover a combined 3.6m sq ft. They will service Apple’s online offering in Europe.
M7 buys out portfolio partners
M7 Real Estate has initiated a share swap to buy out the four jv partners on its pan-European multi-let industrial portfolio. The move – which includes the €300m M7 Cortona BV Dutch JV – takes M7’s assets under management to 2.6m sq ft valued at €1.2bn. The local
jv heads have become shareholders in M7.
Russian office market suffers
A 20% fall in Russian office rents in 2014 is likely to be followed by a 15% fall this year, according to JLL, as the market struggles to absorb new supply. Vacancy rates rose by 15m sq ft last year and a further 197m sq ft is due on-stream this year.
US house prices rise
Home prices in 20 US cities rose at a faster pace in December, with the S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values recording an on-year rise of 4.5%, accelerating from a 4.3% rise in the previous month. All 20 cities surveyed showed year-on-year gains, led by San Francisco’s 9.3% rise.
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